Email Open rates are one of the best ways to tell whether your e-commerce and products are resonating with your audience is working

• The open rate shows what percentage of your audience opens the emails you send them.

If you have a great open rate, it usually means your subject lines resonate with your audience, and therefore they are likely to continue on through to actually reading the email!

Another good way to check how well your emails are working is to take a look at the click rates.

• The click rate is a percentage that tells you how many successfully delivered emails got at least 1 click. This number shows whether or not your audience finds the emails you send relevant enough to click through for more.

What do those numbers tell us?

For your subject line, you have to grab your audience’s attention. You want to introduce some serious FOMO. What are they missing out on if they don’t open and read this email? That’s the question you want them asking themselves.

Arguably, the most important newsletter headline is your subject line. How important do you ask? Research shows that 35% of recipients open email based on subject line alone whereas 69% report email as spam based solely on the subject line.

There’s no sure-fire method to writing subject lines, but try these 5 pointers to increase your open rate TODAY!

Remember too much of a good thing is very real, so don’t overuse personalisation, don’t overuse the same subject line, be real, be truthful and be relevant!

 

1. Segment your lists

Ensure your tagging customers with relevant tags so that when it comes times to send out your newsletter – the information and content is of value for your customer to 1. open it. 2. actually click through it and 3 find the product of enough interest that they will actually buy from you!

Can you imagine sending an email about women’s tops to all men?

 

2. Use their first name

By using the first name of your recipient, you can significantly increase your open rate

Something to keep in mind is that this might become stale if you use it too often. Make sure not to overdo it with the personalization. Sending the same message with the same subject line might hit home for some of your subscribers, but it might also confuse and annoy others. It might make them ask questions like, why is there an email in my inbox about cats when I own a dog?

By segmenting your list based on the information you know about your subscribers, you’ll be able to get personal with each and every one of your subscribers.

3.  Be creative with your headlines

Again, the point of your subject line is to grab your reader’s attention, giving them a reason to open and read your email. Personally, the emails that I get that are creative and thought-provoking are the ones that I open most frequently. A couple of ideas you can try:

Some quick pointers: Use urgency,  Curiosity, Offers, personalisation and relevancy, stories, keep it short and sweet

4. Use Emojis – stand out in your customer’s inbox but DON’T USE ALL CAPS  

Using all caps may get your subscriber’s attention but in the wrong way. Think about it. When you get a text or email in all caps, it feels like you’re being scolded or yelled at. Is that the message you want to send? I don’t think so.

It’s also a sure-fire way to land your email in the spam folder – where emails go to die.

However, Emoji’s are a great way to get the attention of your subject line in a cluttered inbox.

Emojis   🛍🙋‍♀️ 🛒

Yeah, I said it. Emojis. Add a little bit of creative fun to your email that will help grab the reader’s attention. Now I wouldn’t recommend using these in every send but it’s worth testing.

 

5. Test, Test and Test

That’s alright. Test and figure out what’s right for your business.

I recommend creating two subject lines for every email that you send. And split test those subject lines to 10% of your list. Then send the remainder contacts the winning subject line!

 

Lucky last one of most asked questions!! What’s the best time to send emails?

What’s the best time to send your emails to get the highest engagement? Short answer: it depends.

In general, there seem to be three-time slots you could aim for.

The first one around 11 AM – shortly after people arrive at work and have their morning coffee.

The second one – which had the biggest spike in average open-rates – around 2 PM.  Often this is because the recipients have just returned from lunch and they’re catching up with the emails from the past couple of hours.

Third –  often you see an increase in engagement rates later in the afternoon, after 6 PM when most of us return home. This is when we’re seeing the highest click-through rates.

 

Let me know how you go!

Sarah

 

 

 

 

 

P.S. Ready to grow your e-commerce business?  Here are 3 options to start and scale your e-commerce business today with Sarah today:

1. The E-Commerce Mastermind – Your E-Commerce Membership Community with hands-on support with my dream team to start and scale your online store.

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